Wind energy; even better than we thought!
study shows Britain's windfarms avoided release of 36 million tonnes of greenhouse gas in six years #renewableenergy https://t.co/WS6PSByvux— TransWind (@TransWindUK) December 12, 2016
A team of academics at Edinburgh University has carried out an in-depth study of the contribution of wind energy to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the UK. The paper is published in Energy Policy as an open access (free) publication.
In contrast to other existing studies, the study used only operational data and made no assumptions about dispatch (i.e. about what energy sources were used at a given moment).
The research concludes that existing methods tend to systematically under-report the real contribution of wind energy to carbon reduction. This has implications for the value of wind energy – which is higher than currently accepted – and for the arguments about the impact of siting turbines on different soil and substrate types.
Interestingly, the contribution of wind energy tends to augment the benefits of gas turbines by displacing coal-fired electricity, providing additional benefits when Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGT) are dominant in the mix.
“Wind energy is better than we thought; now it needs fair access to public investment!”
– David Clubb
In another fillip for the technology, it turns out that wind energy is nearly effective as Demand Side Management – generally considered to be the lowest cost approach – at reducing GHG emissions.
Commenting on the research, David Clubb said:
“Given the huge contribution made by the UK’s wind fleet to our energy security, lower energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, it’s a massive missed opportunity that onshore wind has effectively been ruled out of the current auction process for electricity.
“We want clean, cheap and home-grown electricity. Wind energy is the only technology that currently ticks all boxes.”